The False Mendicant

Long ago there lived in a village
a poor man named Dolu. Not
finding a suitable job in that
village, he set out from his
home and reached the city of
Andhapur whose people were
steeped in superstitious beliefs.

Dolu, who was a crafty fellow
decided to take advantage of the
situation. He donned the garb
of a holy man, and pitched a
tent on the outskirts of the city.
Soon news of the arrival of a
holy man spread all over the
town and people began to
crowd around him.

The townspeople vied with
one another in feting the false
hermit, and Dolu who found
this life quite pleasant moved
into the temple. There he col-
lected the money offered by the
folks and arranged for two big



festivals. Actually he desired
to collect more money and so he
invited the village elders to a
meeting where he declared pom-
pously, " Friends, tomorrow is
the holy night of Sivarathri.
We must light a lakh of lamps
in honour of the Lord. If you do
this, you all will prosper."

The people thought this a
good idea and went round col-
lecting donations for this
purpose.

Soon money began to pour
in and Dolu's eyes glistened
with greed at all the wealth.
Came the day of the festival,
and the folks turned up in
large numbers. Amongst those
who came was a man called
Bolu. He was known as the
village idiot as everybody be-
lieved that he had no intelli-




gence. But the truth was that
Bolu was a simple fellow, who
was not worried about display-
ing his mental powers before
others. He was content to be
regarded as a fool and never
bothered to correct that im-
pression.

When Dolu saw Bolu, he
called the latter aside and press-
ing two rupees in his palms
whispered some secret instruc-
tions. At once Bolu realised
that the other was a fake, out
to dupe the people. He decided
to expose him at the right time.

That night the temple of Siva
resounded with the rhythm of
the drums and the luminous
lamps cast long shadows on the
ground. People were gathered



on the open ground in front of
the temple. At a signal from
Dolu, suddenly without warning
Bolu leaped to his feet and
began to sway crazily from side
to side.

Seeing this Dolu said, "Oh!
Devotees! Last night the Lord
appeared in my dream. We
seem tb have offended Him in
some way. We must seek a
remedy." Here Dolu stopped
and turning towards Bolu asked
seriously, " Holy Sir, tell us
where we have gone wrong,
We'll do as you say."

People in those days believed
that the Lord spoke through the
spirit of men and willingly be-
lieved whatever the possessed
man said. Dolu hoped to take
advantage of this and he had
tutored Bolu about what to say.
He waited expectantly to hear
what Bolu had to say.

Bolu, rolling his eyes from
side to side, exclaimed, " Oh
Dolu, you are indeed a true
devotee. I have decided to
invite you to Mount Kailas, my
celestial abode. So make pre-
parations for your journey
instantly."

After saying this, Bolu rolled
on the ground twice or thrice
more and muttering some more
words, suddenly regained his



feet and announced that the
Lord had left him.

The gullible people of Andha-
pur really believed that the
Lord had spoken to them and
were truly happy that Dolu had
been singled out for the honour
of going up to heaven with his
body intact. So they went off
to dig a huge grave in order to
bury Dolu alive.

When Dolu saw that his
scheme had boomeranged upon
him, he ran to Bolu and chided
him. But all unheeding, Bolu
and the village elders dragged
Dolu to the edge of the hole and
prepared to lower him down
into it.

At this Dolu fell at Bolu's
feet and implored him to save
him. When the astonished



crowds pondered over the
meaning of this, Bolu turned to
them and said, " Friends, this
man is a fake. He told me to
act as though possessed by the
Lord, and then instruct you to
hand over all the money to him
personally. I wanted to ex-
pose him. I wanted him to
confess in public his misdeeds.
So i pretended to be possessed
and said that the Lord had
commanded him to ascend to
heaven. If I had told you
before hand, you would not
have believed me."

The folks looked at Dolu's
face for confirmation of these
words and read his guilt writ
large there. They gave him a
good beating and chased him
away from their town.



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Long ago the city of Kalapur
was ruled by King Kaarmegha.
He had a son named Gaja-
mukha. He was a valiant prince
who excelled in all the martial
arts. Often he longed to display
his prowess, but he was so
closely guarded by the orders of
a fond father that he could do
nothing on his own.

One day the prince informed
his father that he wished to
travel and see the country over
which he was to rule. The
king said, "Right, you should
travel and see things for your-
self. But remember three things.
Firstly, never go alone any-
where. Secondly, when you
leave a place, mark its location
well. Thirdly, when you travel
through the forest be very care-
ful of the bears. Don't provoke
them. Jf a bear comes on your
way, at once lie on the ground
as if you were dead, and it will
not harm you."